Page 13 of The Love Chase

“Good morning, Emma,” Liam said cheerfully, handing me a coffee cup with The Roasted Bean logo.

Ice poured through my veins despite the blast of summer heat that smothered me, my tired body seizing up like it had rigor mortis. I couldn’t move—could barely breathe.

He wore another old band tee—a new tattoo peeking out from beneath the sleeve—and faded blue jeans, those infamous cowboy boots adorning his feet. I didn’t think I’d ever seen him wear anything else.

But the real kicker was the backward baseball cap on his head.

It should be absolutely illegal for any man to wear a hat backwards. Ladies’ ovaries spontaneously combusted at the sight, I was sure of it.

My jaw hung open, and my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth, but I managed to stutter out, “W-what are you doing h-here?” Jameson’s porch blocked the direct sunlight, but I still found myself squinting up at Liam.

He cleared his throat, glancing at the ground as if he were self-conscious—which was absurd because Liam had always oozed confidence.

“Um, someone told me you were back in town, staying here, so I figured I’d bring you a pick-me-up.” He gestured to the coffee dripping condensation down my fingers. The faint scent of cinnamon wafted into my nose.

He remembered.

His eyes dragged from my feet to my head, setting my skin on fire with a simple gaze. Why did he still have such an effect on me? I was furious with him. I didn’t want to be in love with him anymore.

He had never seen me as more than a friend. Not in all our years of friendship. And, yet, after two years of distance, I still wasn’t over him.

“Thanks,” I bit out, nodding at the coffee. I turned on my heel to head back inside.

“Wait,” Liam said, putting his palm on the door as I tried to shut it. “Are you doing anything today?”

“I don’t think that’s any of your business.” I barely held back a wince at the words.

We used to tell each other everything. There were no secrets between us—well, except for the big one about my feelings for him. Even things that should have been personal, like when I started my period for the first time, he knew. Instead of freaking out like a normal man would have, he had gone out of his way to run to the store and get me supplies, biking all the way to my house just to give them to me. All he had said was that he had sisters and left the explanation at that.

We had been as close as two people could get.

Now that I had experienced what it was like to lose Liam Walker, I wasn’t interested in going back to how things were only to repeat the experience.

He pushed on the door. “Come on, Em. Don’t be like that.”

“Don’t be like what?”

He rubbed his neck, and I fervently ignored the way the muscles under his tattoo flexed. “I don’t know.” Liam waved a hand at me. “Angry?”

I blinked at him. “Don’t be angry? Are you serious? When you threw away twenty years of friendship and cut me out of your life? Stopped talking to me because you found a better life somewhere else? No, of course not. Why would I be upset about that?”

I pressed my lips together to hold back a slew of insults waiting to burst out.

Liam sighed. “I swear, Em, I didn’t mean to cut you out. Things just got…busy and complicated and…” He trailed off, his eyes pleading. “I never meant to do that to you. You’re my best friend.”

Ha! Friends don’t treat friends that way, Buddy.

I rolled my eyes, and Liam took a step closer. “Come on, let’s go take a walk or something.”

“Do you use that line on your California girls? Or do they just fall into your arms unprovoked?”

I didn’t miss the way his face fell as he cringed, taking the tiniest step backward, the realization settling in that I had seen the tabloids. That I knew what his reputation had become.

Maybe that had been an unfair shot, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t about to let Liam back in so easily. I wasn’t about to give him another chance to worm his way into my heart again, only to go back to Cali and leave me all over again. I was through with being left behind and abandoned.

It was easier to stay angry. To protect myself.

Even if I missed the way he squeezed me when we hugged, or the cedarwood scent of his cologne, or the way his green eyes shimmered when he laughed.

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